About a week ago at work, I was working beside someone and during a lull she told me her dil was having a new baby. They had just found out it was a girl. Lucky me I got to hear all the details. Well I asked what they were going to name it. She told me and I kid you not she said Ahhneastiy Lyyn (yes that's the way they are going to spell it). Without thinking I said are they nuts and she said well when someone admires the baby and says ahh how sweet she wanted to be able to say yes that is her name. I know I made a mistake when I said that but please don't name that poor baby that. Is there anything you can say to a grandmother that could make her kids reconsider. I can't even imagine how long it will take that poor child to learn to spell her name.

twinkletoes

I have a coworker who named her daughter 'Alexia.' This coworker came to my place of work before she gave birth, and she would always tell people what she was naming her daughter. We don't get along that well, so I 'forgot' to mention to her that the name means 'loss of an ability to read.' Heh.

For future reference, there probably isn't a whole lot you can do. If someone is dead-set in love with a particular name, it doesn't matter what anyone else says, and any dissenters might be seen as "stuck-in-the-muds with no imagination and can't see that Mannollloo Blossom Esmerelda is a beautiful name." And if it's someone telling you the name by proxy (as in your case, with the grandmother), it really depends on how they say the name - eye rolling? beaming with joy? It's also out of their hands, so I think saying anything is a waste of breath.

A woman on a message board I frequent wanted to name her son "Kaiser". She asked for middle name suggestions. Can you see where this is going? Yup, someone actually said, "I like 'Wilhelm' with 'Kaiser'."

Oh, and a woman who was going to name her daughter 'Kali'. Cuz nuthin' says "cute little baby" like "necklace of skulls".

This story came out in our national newspaper (The New Zealand Herald) a few days ago. It says that having a very feminine name gives people a different impression of you than having a less feminine name, and so leads to different life choices, study and career wise, basically.

But the piece I love is this bit the end... (link to the article below, and I've shortened the quote a little and added bold)

He also showed how harmful giving your child a "chav" or lower-status name can be.

In a study of 55,000 children, the exam marks of those with "lower-status" names - often spelled in an unusual way or including punctuation - were on average 3 to 5 percentage points lower than siblings with more traditional names.

One of the reasons was teachers had lower expectations of them.

Some names immediately aroused images of success, others of popularity or kindness. On the whole, people judged to have more traditional names such as Rachel and Robert did extremely well. More alternative names scored badly. Breeze was given 16 out of 100, while Christopher received full marks. "A name is part of an impression package," said Mehrabian. "Parents who make up bizarre names for their children are ignorant, arrogant or just foolish."

Figlio said people should be more aware of the power of names.

"In ways we are only beginning to understand, children with different names but the exact same upbringing grow up to have remarkably different life outcomes," he said.

"If you want to give your child a name that connotes low status, then you need to be aware of the consequences."

I have a coworker who named her daughter 'Alexia.' This coworker came to my place of work before she gave birth, and she would always tell people what she was naming her daughter. We don't get along that well, so I 'forgot' to mention to her that the name means 'loss of an ability to read.' Heh.

For future reference, there probably isn't a whole lot you can do. If someone is dead-set in love with a particular name, it doesn't matter what anyone else says, and any dissenters might be seen as "stuck-in-the-muds with no imagination and can't see that Mannollloo Blossom Esmerelda is a beautiful name." And if it's someone telling you the name by proxy (as in your case, with the grandmother), it really depends on how they say the name - eye rolling? beaming with joy? It's also out of their hands, so I think saying anything is a waste of breath.

I saw a cashier one time with a nametag that said "Candida." I didn't tell her what it appeared her mother must have been suffering from when she was born, but I did think it an odd name.

At least that's better. I actually thought the pronounciation was Ahh Nasty Lynn and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to name their daughter that.

That's what I read it as, too! And, you know that, if at least 2 of us here misread it, this is not going to be the last time the error is made. Not only that, but can you imagine the poor child on the schoolyard playground? Kids can be cruel, and this name's just begging for it.....

I used to have a great baby name book entitled, "The Baby Name Personality Survey". The authors surveyed thousands of people across the country to gain their impressions of many male and female names. In the book, they included the usual info such as the origin and meaning of the name, then included what people generally think about a person named "___________". They finished up each name by listing famous people (current and historically) with that name. It was a very entertaining read.

I worked at a hospital several years ago in a very poor, run-down section of town. One of the doctors there told me about a very young girl, probably about 14 or 15, who had given birth and named her daughter Sh*thead. She prounced it "Sha-tayd" and thought it was simply the prettiest name ever.

At least that's better. I actually thought the pronounciation was Ahh Nasty Lynn and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to name their daughter that.

That's what I read it as, too! And, you know that, if at least 2 of us here misread it, this is not going to be the last time the error is made. Not only that, but can you imagine the poor child on the schoolyard playground? Kids can be cruel, and this name's just begging for it.....

Ya'll are smarter than me! I was sitting here struggling to wrap my brain around it, I hadn't even managed to make a stab!

At least that's better. I actually thought the pronounciation was Ahh Nasty Lynn and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to name their daughter that.

That's what I read it as, too! And, you know that, if at least 2 of us here misread it, this is not going to be the last time the error is made. Not only that, but can you imagine the poor child on the schoolyard playground? Kids can be cruel, and this name's just begging for it.....

Ya'll are smarter than me! I was sitting here struggling to wrap my brain around it, I hadn't even managed to make a stab!